Edisi Khas Bahasa Melayu 2: Permainan Dahulu Kala

Sebagai sorang manusia yang membesar dan menjadi ganyut setiap hari, kita tak terelak daripada melupakan aktiviti serta kenangan lama masa muda² dulu. Contohnya cam permainan tradisional ataupun yang direka sendiri. Oleh itu, kat sini saya nak tanya korang satu soalan. Korang ingat lagi tak permainan² yang disebut kat bawah ni? Kalau tak ingat, sila staple kepala masing², okey? (Kecuali la korang berasal dari generasi berlainan dan tak pernah main benda alah camni).

1. Lawan Pemadam

Sediakan satu meja dan dua atau lebih orang pemain. Masing² ada satu pemadam berjenama negara (secara purata 9/10 rakyat Malaysia setuju pemadam Brazil merupakan pemadam yang sangat dahsyat). Sebaik saja permainan bermula, pemain akan tekan pemadam tu menuju ke arah pemadam lawan. Pemadam yang berjaya menindih pemadam lawan dikira pemenang. Kemudian permainan diulangi sampai muntah atau dimarahi cikgu.

2. Lawan Pen

Konsep yang hampir sama dengan Lawan Pemadam. Satu meja diperlukan dan beberapa orang pemain dibenarkan berlawan secara serentak. Cara nak menang mudah jer. Setiap pemain kena jentik pen masing² melanggar pen lawan sehingga la pen diorang tu jatuh. Pen yang berjaya kekal kat atas meja sehingga perlawanan tamat (pen lain habis jatuh semua la) dianggap pemenang. Pen yang digunakan untuk beraksi gak boleh diubahsuai mengikut kreativiti pemain.

3. Rebut Tiang

Lokasi strategik diperlukan untuk permainan ni. Semakin banyak tiang sesuatu tempat tu ada, semakin meriah permainan. Kebiasaannya koridor kat luar kelas ataupun rumah teres satu tingkat menjadi feveret. Camner nak main? Letak kaki masing² pastu kira. Saper yang terpilih jadi 'beruk' tak dibenarkan pilih tiang. Yang lain boleh. Apabila permainan dimulakan, setiap pemain yang memiliki tiang harus la menukar posisi dengan pemain lain, pada masa sama tiang yang ditinggalkan tak dicerobohi 'beruk' tersebut. Kalau kena ceroboh, giliran mangsa ceroboh tu pula jadi 'beruk'. Permainan ni gak menyaksikan ramai pemain ter-kangkang² bergerak dari satu tiang ke tiang yang lain.

4. Bola Sepak Kad Dan Kertas

Potong kad manila jadi saiz kad terup (atau beli jer kad terup apa² jenis) pastu lipat dua. Lipat la sebanyak mana yang korang nak tapi pastikan jumlahnya seimbang untuk ke-dua² pasukan (ya, main bola sepak kena ada dua pasukan). Bila dah selesai buat pasukan, koyakkan secebis kertas lalu komot²-kannya sehingga menjadi 'segumpal' bola kertas yang comel. Mulakan permainan dengan menepuk kad yang dilipat dua tu untuk menendang bola. Ha, jangan lupa buat pintu gol tau.

5. Lompat Getah

Permainan ni memerlukan jumlah gegelung getah yang sangat banyak. Sambungkan gegelung getah tersebut sehingga menjadi seutas tali getah yang panjang. Kemudian buat dua pasukan (kalau tak silap lebih pun boleh). Tugas setiap pasukan ialah melepasi halangan dengan cara melompat ataupun menyangkutkan ke-dua² belah kaki melepasi tali getah tersebut. Oh ya, setiap halangan terdiri daripada pelbagai tahap ketinggian cam tahap lutut, peha, pinggang, dada, bahu, telinga, bulu kening dan akhir sekali, kepala. Dengan bangga saya katakan, saya sangat handal main lompat getah. Nak lawan? :P

Jadi, kesimpulannya semua ni merupakan hasil kreativiti kanak² generasi terdahulu sebelum munculnya permainan maya cam Playstation, komputer dan sebagainya. Bagi la apa pun, dengan mudah diorang akan jadikannya sebagai permainan. Setuju?

p/s: Apa lagi ek permainan lain yang direka sendiri?

People Don't Change, But.

The phrase "I want to..." is the best motivation one can have. I always believe that. Because it shows that our conscience is starting to play its role and tell us what is supposed to be done, or not done. It leads us to a whole new level. However, in certain matters, "I want to..." doesn't mean a shit.

Let's take the phrase "I want to change" as an example. Yes, it's so famous that almost every living soul that breathes on this Earth and can speak a language has produced it once, at the very least. But, saying "I want to change" doesn't necessarily mean you will change, right? So in this case, "I want to..." is just a decoration to make you feel better.

I say that people can never change. I say that people will never change. I say that you are just as same as how you were ten or twenty years ago. Agree? Hold your phone! Allow me to justify my point.

I'm not saying that if you were once a thief, murderer or psychopath, you can't change that and will remain the same now or in the future. Nope, everybody deserves a second chance. Everybody deserves to try and improve themselves. There's nothing wrong in that.

My point is, people can only change what they do; to stop doing or to continue. If you're a thief and want to change, you will stop stealing things. If you don't want to change, you will continue doing it. But the fact that you were a thief back then remains. However different you claim you are now, your instinct and desire to steal remains; but hidden and asleep. That's it.

In easy words, when people say that they have changed, that is not entirely true. They are still the same person. They still got the same instinct, desire or habit, whatever you call it. The only difference is, they have stopped doing all those things they used to do. They have thrown away the trigger.

So question; who has the trigger now? The surrounding people. And we are the surrounding people. We have the trigger and it is up to us whether or not to pull it. If we do, then everything will be the same again, they will become the old ones once more, and we are assholes.

Those bad people who want to change, they have entrusted us with the trigger. Do not pull it. Do not wake them up. Do not make them take the same road again.

p/s: For some reasons that I can't explain, I think I'm being an asshole at the moment. Maybe because it's hard to see other people change while I don't. I don't know. I keep pulling the trigger. I'm sorry, though. I'm still learning.

Reasons (Not) To Fight

There's a reason why humans fight everyday no matter how big or small the thing is. That reason is called 'human nature'. Yes, whatever we humans do, there is always an excuse for everything. It's not entirely wrong, though. Like I said, it is our nature. However, when we look at the funny side of it, it is worth a laugh.

We normally fight for trivial things; those are not really significant or going to have any effect on our lives. But with a good reason, we gladly agree to disagree, so to speak. Here I list four of them:

1. Parking space

Have you ever been to a shopping complex during weekends? Sure you have. And obviously every hour on Saturday or Sunday is the peak hour. Parking's full, so you have to go and move around in your car, looking for a space to rest you mini Volkswagen or modified Kancil. If you fail to get one, you wait for some good Samaritans to go out and save your day. But, if another car interferes and takes your supposed-to-be parking space all of a sudden, like that Persian character in '300' movie you say, "This is madness!" Congratulations, you just won yourself a reason to fight.

2. Football club

This is my favorite. We're not the ones who play the game, and obviously we're not the ones who manage any of those teams that get involved in the football league (EPL, La Liga, TM Malaysia Super League, you name it). But just because we have a preferred team and support it to the grave, we hail it like no one cares. Seriously, people fight for this reason as if by doing so the table will turn. I'm one of them (but not a hardcore one). I read the statistics first. Glory! Glory! Oops.

3. Famous people

Oh yeah, this case is almost the same as the previous one. Don't we realize it? Paris Hilton won't be bothered even if fans spend years debating over who is smarter; the songstress or her Chihuahua. Fasha Sandha's bank account won't get empty even if a third world war (figuratively speaking) begins and originally caused by her fans and not-so fans in Facebook. Well, you get the point and no offense intended.

4. Sales and discounts

Boys don't look at girls, and girls don't stare back at boys who look at them. Both are equally guilty as charged. Everybody loves items tagged with sale prices. Everybody fights for it. "I'm sorry, I saw this one first!" and "Yes, you saw it first but I held it earlier!" Let's bring it to the court and decide who gets custody of it, shall we? Na'ah.

Stop Missing A Person Who Doesn't Miss You Back

I can still remember the day when I told my friend about my feeling towards a girl. The case was quite complicated and until now I can't really tell what went wrong. The only thing I'm very sure of is, me and her were having a mutual feeling for each other, but we didn't manage to declare anything and she got snatched right away. So, instead of moving on together, we moved on separately.

Back to the part where I told my friend about what I just told you, he responded in a very ignorant way, but amazingly with a clear point. I told him, "It's really hard to forget all the moments spent together, and I still can't believe that I missed the chance by an inch of hesitation." He said, "Why do you want to suffer alone here while she enjoys her day with her boyfriend there?"

Seriously, that friend of mine had been needing my help (some sorts of honest opinions and stuff) from me for years, but on that miracle day, he turned things around and provided me with one. Yes, what he said totally made sense (even though he admitted that it was accidental). So I guess everyone needs help, eh?

Since then I started to see the world from a different point of view. Of course I got on and off with a few more relationships (actually it was only twice in 5 years if I did my Maths correctly) later on, but the feeling of losing someone dear didn't hurt me as much as before.

I always told myself and those who sought for my opinions, "Do not try to forget the ones you've lost, because you will never succeed. If they could give you such an impact, what makes you think you could forget them in the future? Instead, allow yourself to think of them and remember all the things you've done together. Do not fight it. If you want to miss or call or cry, let it be. Because one day you will stop. And when you stop, it's not because you have succeeded forgetting them, but you've actually managed to accept life and live without them."

So when I put the title 'Stop Missing A Person Who Doesn't Miss You Back', I wasn't thinking about telling any of you to do that. I wanted you to see the title in a form of a question. Can you stop missing a person who doesn't miss you back? Maybe yes, maybe no. Why must you force? Hey, I'm no expert.

However, if you keep missing the same person and remain alone, you're going to let go a lot more names that might give a change. Huh, the more I say it, the more it is going to contradict. And who says life is fair again?